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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1963)
ation s MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON THURSDAY. JULY 18 19B3 By ORVAL JACKSON and LEWIS LORD United Pr'si International Spartanburg, S.C. - 0IP1I -As dawn breaks over the southeastern United States on July 21, the U.S. army and air force will open the na tion's largest peacetime maneuver, over 7,500 square miles of Georgia and North and South Carolina. By the time the Swift Strike III exercise is com pleted Aug. 16, the inter service war game will have involved 75,000 men from bases throughout the country. They are members of the United States Strike com mand (USSTRICOM), an in tegrated Army-Air Force com bat force which stands ready to meet a military emergency anywhere in the world on a few hours' notice. Swift Strike III will begin with air maneuvers over an area bounded by Charlotte, N.C., Columbia, S.C, Augusta, Ga., and Greenville, S.C. The ground phase, involving mass parachute drops of men and equipment and mock battles, will follow across wide areas of the three slates. Private Property Nearly all of the "battle area" will be on private prop erty. There will be troops climbing back fences and tanks rumbling along country roads but no live ammunition will be used.1 The firing of blanks from rifles and machine guns and detonating shell simulators may cause normally peaceful countrysides to sound like the Civil War revisited. Swift Strike III is designed to test the capability of USS TRICOM to move combat ready Army and Air Force units in an integrated force to engage an enemy in any kind of limits of general con flict. USSTRICOM is this coun try's only integrated Army Air Force command.. It in cludes all combat ready units of the Continental Army Command and units of the Tactical Air command based in the United States. In com mand is Army Gen. Paul D. Adams with headquarters at Macdill Air Force base, Tam pa, Fla. Involve Task Forces The mass field maneuver will involve "Red" and "Blue" joint task forces tactically em ployed against each other. The Blue force will include the Headquarters XVIII Air borne corps and the 82nd air borne division from Fort Bragg, the 101st Airborne Di vision from Fort Campbell, Ky., and the 1st Logistical Command from Fort Hood, Tex. ' Principal Army units in the Red Task force will be the III Corps Headquarters from Fort Hood, Tex., the 2nd In fantry Division of Fort Ben ning, Ga., and the 5th Infan try Division (mechanized) from Fort Carson, Colo. The Red force will main tain headquarters at Augusta, Ga.. near the Georgia-South Carolina border. The Blue force will be headquartered at Fort Bragg, some 200 miles to the northeast.. Where the two forces will meet within the 7,500 square miles of red soiled, pine-forested country side is now known. Forces to Participate Unconventional warfare forces from the Army special warfare center. Fort Bragg, Lara est Peacetime and the U.E.A.F. air special warfare center, Elgin Air Force Base. Fla.. will nartioi. pate in the sham war. Air missions initially will be flown bv rpenlar Air Fnivp squadrons but air reserve and National Guard planes will join the exercise Aug. 3. Air Force units will include Ninth Air Force groups from Shaw AFB, S.C, Macdill AFB, Fla.. Homestead AFR Fla . Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., ana myrtle Beacn AFB, S.C, while the 12th Air Force will provide groups from Cannon AFB, N.M., George AFB, Calif., England AFB, La., and McConnell AFB, Kan. Air Force reserve units will come from General Mitrhpll AFB, Wis., Bakalar AFB, tna., Homestead AFB, Fla., Willow Grove, Wash., Clinton County AFB, Ohio, Hanscom Field, Mass., and Dobbins AFB, Ga. Air National Guard units will be from Niagara Falls, N.Y., McConell AFB, Kan., Baltimore, Md., Boston, Mass., Westfield, Mass., Birming ham, Ala., Detroit, Mich., and Louisville, Ky. Swift Strike III is just one of many exercises the Com mand conducts during the year but by far the largest. A majority of the exercises are "no-notice" alerts in which units of an immediate ready force (IRF) swing into action in minutes. The Com mand has units on immediate call at all times, usually a reinforced rifle company. Members of the IRF are re stricted to the barracks area of their baser packed and ready to load aboard aircraft rapidly. The duty lasts a week and is rotated among rifle companies. The Division Ready Force (DRF) is a battle group team that would follow the IRF into action. Restrictions on personnel on DRF alert are much less and personnel are allowed to go home at night subject to recall. The theory of USSTRICOM is to get some forces to a bat tle area quickly, then follow up with continuous buildup of forces necessary to get the job done. 'We can move a combat ready force on short notice and then immediately start reinforcement buildup," Gen eral Adams said. "It is like an open faucet, once the move starts it is a continuing thing." Men on immediate ready force status spend duty hours undergoing as much training as possible within the com pany area on such subjects as hand-to-hand combat and bayonet practice. SP4 Milton Kirby of Nash ville, Tenn., is an 82nd Air borne Division soldier whose company is actually on IRF alert. Kirby lives with his wife in Fayeteville, near his Fort Bragg post. "My wife doesn't like it much when one of these Alerts comes along," he said, "but she realized that it is necessary and part of my job. I call her every night and we train pretty hard during the day, so the IRF week goes by pretty fast." Speaking of the IRF and Maneuver Starts Sunday in the DRF, General Adams said the theory is to "apply the proper amount of power enough to get the job done, but no more. We would cut off the stream of troops when the necessary force is com mitted," he said. Change in Thnking A major change in military thinking with the creation of USSTRICOM has been to bring Air Force and Army units into close working re lationships. In addition to eight Army divisions, Adams has command over three Air Force composite squadrons, along with Strike headquar ters and a communications element that can tie in in stantly with the world-wide communications network. The close working relation ship of the two military serv ices allows closer coordina tion between air and ground units during operations and provides quick transportation for ground forces to battle areas. "In general, we can move the first reinforced company in two hours, and in nine hours have the first rein forced battle group in action," Adams said. Air Force personnel have qualified as paratroopers in order to drop into combat areas with advance forces to set up proper air support for the ground units. Air Force squadrons also provide vital reconnaissance for the Army. Veteran of Fighting USSTRICOM Commanding General Adams Is a veteran of the European and Korean fighting and commander of U.S. Forces which landed in Lebanon in 1958. Secretary of Defense Rob ert S. McN'amara announced plans to organize the Com mand in September, 1961, and one month later named Ad ams to head it. On Dec. 28, 1981, Adams reported the Command was operational. "We stress all types of war fare, including nuclear, but the stress is primarily on con ventional warfare where we confront the enemy with force," Adams said. A 3 East Serving the Upper Rogue River Valley Folks with Good Food at Low Competitive Prices r NOW SEE THIS WEEK'S LIST OF GOOD FOOD AT LOW PRICES ON PAGE 10-C T Eddie Fisher Denies Rumor of Marriage Las Vegas. Nev. - IUPD -Singer Eddie Fisher, es tranged husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor, has denied rumors he plans to marry New York model Rcnata Boeck. "I don't know what my plans are," said Fisher Wednesday when asked about the rumors. "We are good friends. She's visiting here in Las Vegas," added the singer. Asked about his marriage to Miss Taylor, now romantic ally involved with Welsh ac tor Richard Burton, Fisher replied: "There have always been divorce plans. As far as any thing further than that is con cerned, one thing at a time." Girl, 15, Drowns In Ocean Surf Seavlew, Wash. - IUPD -Joyce King. 15. of Longvlew, Wash., drowned and a broth er and sister narrowly es caped death Wednesday in the surf just off a Scaview beach. The drowned girl's sister, Mrs. Sandra King Malvaney, 17 nri hroihpr Jesse King. 1o' were taken td Ocean; Beach hospital in Ilwaco. ti,. lie mast Guard said thf trio were on a rubber raft in the surf about a half mile from the beach. The Coast Guard said the raft ap parently capsized, dumping the three into the surf. LADIES THIS IS IT! Burelson's Terrific Sale Ends Sat., 5:30 P.M. FINAL ' I y fc -wj ! J X 1 1 X X 3tY : r f - jtJ":Vl MEMBER VV 7 To Clear This Mercbandise Now! M IES:S;ES:'-'2S: -TT Iff UB. 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